VENEZUELA

Venezuela is visited mainly by business travelers. In 1980, some sixty-five thousand visitors to the country were from the United States. Caracas, the capital, is the cultural, political, and population center. Fortunately it sits at an altitude that produces a pleasantly mild climate year-round. An autopista (superhighway) links the city to the coast and to the international airport.

The government owns a series of first-class hotels throughout the country. In Caracas the Hilton and the Intercontinental Hotels are the most prominent. On the coast, near Caracas, the government converted a lavish officer’s club into the country’s leading resort. The Island of Santa Margarita in the Caribbean is part of Venezuela and is popular with Venezuelans as a holiday spot.